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Oreck is a company probably best known for making vacuum cleaners, but they've also got a line of air purifiers. They've basically got two different brands you can buy at the moment: the Oreck XL Tabletop and the Oreck XL Tower.
The Tabletop is one that sits horizontally, so it takes up more space on the floor but doesn't go up very high. It's the cheaper of the two models - about $350. The Tabletop is designed to clean 600 square feet, so about a normal sized room.
The Tower is a vertical, standing model. It's more expensive - close to $600. It cleans more area, about 900 square feet. It also has a setting called "Turbo" that the Tabletop doesn't - basically it just runs a lot faster and pushes more air through. This would be most useful if you've got a smoker in the family (because they can concentrate toxins in the air in a short period of time that you'd want to get rid of quickly).
Both versions use a permanent filter, as opposed to a replaceable one. This should factor into your cost decision - with many brands you are buying a new filter every year or so, and they often cost $50 to $100 to replace. Both will also save you a little money on the energy costs - it takes about as much to power them as it does to power a lightbulb.
One kind of unique feature they have is an aroma cartridge. Basically, you can stick a little fragrance thing in there so that it doesn't just take dirt out of the air, it also adds a scent.
What are the downsides? You might want to look here if you want to see someone slamming Oreck. I'm not sure whether the stats they're giving are accurate (it's important to note that this was written by a competitor trying to sell you other products). That company claims that they aren't very effective, and don't circulate the air as often as other competing products.
There are also a bunch of consumer complaints about them collected here (keep in mind that there are consumer complaints for other similar products on the same site). A lot of people there do complain that their machine isn't pickup up all the dust in their houses.
There is also another collection of reviews you can find here, which basically has people who either love it or hate it. About half the people love it and think that it is improving the air quality in their house. There are several who hated it, though, and they complained about weird snapping / crackling sounds coming out of the filter.
Finally, on a more positive note, there's a set of ratings online here where most people seem to love them. Everyone seems to agree it's quiet on the lower settings, but can get loud when you put it up to max. They disagree over whether it works or not - most on that site say it does, but a couple didn't think it made a difference. Finally, some people complained they were hard to clean.
You can go to Oreck's web site here if you're interested in buying them online:
http://www.oreck.com/air-purifiers/xl_air_purifiers_choice.cfm
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